A FIEND INCARNATE. VESSEL FIRED AT SEA. TRAGIC END OF THE INCENDIARY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 409, 9 October 1889, Page 4

A FIEND INCARNATE. VESSEL FIRED AT SEA. TRAGIC END OF THE INCENDIARY.

i An island trading vessel, the Saucy Jack, i returned to Sydney from her cruise last i Thursday. During the voyage one of the i crew, a young fellow of 23 or 24 years of , a_e, named John OBrien, who shipped in i the vessel at Sydney as a seaman, developed ■ into a sorb of liend incarnate. Tho old cap- , tain of the vessel, Captain Joss, who has i sailed fche Southern seas as a master for moro than 30 years, saya that he never in his life i before felt afraid of being murdeied until this voyage of the Saucy Jack. The story its a » brief one. OBrien quickly quarrelled with • every man or boy on board. He would I neither be denied by his fellow-shipmates i nor receive order from the officers. By (iei grees on the passage he succeeded in cowing , everybody on board tho vessel. As a result , he had tilings pretty much his own way, i and would have been allowed a consideri able latitude, for peace and quietness' > sake, had that satisfied him, but an ' altercation between himsolf and another of , the crew over some trifling matter terminated in the narrow escape of O'Brien's i victim, who was struck down by a blow ; on the back of the head with a heavy bar I of iron. Captain Joss at once interfered, i and attended to the insensible man, then i lying on the deck bleeding from the wound , in his head. With attention and such i medical help as could be rendered, the i assaultod sailor recovered, and OBrien was i cautioned that in the event of any further -, quarrel he would be put in irons. On arrival i of the vessel at Samoa, OBrien wanted to i leave the vessel, a wish heartily concurred [ in by the captain, who at once offered to paj' him oil there. All the arrangements were made, but upon going before the s Consul that official required a further i undertaking from the vessel for the return of OBrien to Sydney. As Captain Joss was not in a position to do this, the Consul's advice was that tho refractory seaman should be ironed on board and cairied back by the Saucy Jack. Nothing, however, came of this, and in due course the vessel with OBrien on board as an ordinary mem ber of the crew, left Apia for Savage Island. A. couple of days alter sailing OBrien nearly killed the cook by striking him with a heavy billet of wood on the head, laying bare his skull. His provocation in that instance was because his coflee was not ready when he went to the galley for it. Tho other members of the crew and tho supercargo of the vessel at once insisted thatthemanshouldbeplaced under restraint. Captain Joss thereupon placed handcufls upon him, but left him at liberty to go about the decks. Soon after midnight of the 14th ultimo, and on the third day after OBrien had been handcuffed, the man at the wheel saw a towering flame burst from tho forecastle companion way. Luckily it was moderate weather at tho time. The steersman at once called the captain, and all hands were speedily awoke. The lire had taken a btrong hold, and the anxiety was intense in case it reached the cargo of copra stowed in the torehold. In that event no human effort could save the ship. The ciew rapidly took in some of the sails and unbent them, and with those set to work to smother the flames. The smell of kerosene was immediately detected from the smoke, and it was known that a 4-gallon tin was in the forocabin, or near it. After a difficult combat with the llames, the h're was subdued. Water was then played upon the charred deck, and below in the forecastlo. After the smoke had cleared, it was found that about two gallons of kerosene — half the contents of tho tin — had been used in saturating a sail and some bedding, and the floor and fittings in the forecastle. The vessel being in the tropics, the crew in tine weather sleptout on the open docks, so that no one was below for some hours before the fire was first discovered. OBrien, who had last been seen sitting on the ship's rail forward, was gone. Beyond this nothing is known as to how or when h« sprang over tho side, only it is certain that he was nob washed off the vessel, the weather being too moderate. It is the belief of the captain and of the supercargo that having stated that he would not return to Sydney he committed the act of incendiarism, and followed it by throwing himself into the sea, supposing that the vessel would surely be destroyed. Of the voyage of the Saucy Jack, the captain reports that the lute hurricane, accounts of which have already appeared in these columns, ha? left its mark in all the groups ; trees have been uprooted, and what the wind did not destroy tho sea did. When the schooner was off the Island ot Pylstaarfc, Captain Joss noticed that at the south-east end of the island a very heavy landship had taken place. The natives at all the islands were quiet. The schooner brings no news i of note but what has been anticipated. j >